Casebook 1 : The Case Of The Missing Bullet
by TalepieceUK
Summary: From The Casebook Of Madame Vastra. Vastra and Jenny meet and solve their first crime, the death of a father and child.
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: The Case Of The Missing Bullet  
AUTHOR: Talepiece  
RATING: 12 cert.  
PAIRING: Vastra/Jenny  
SERIES: The Casebook Of Madame Vastra  
CONTINUITY: This is the first in a series of Vastra/Jenny stories (well, there will certainly be three as I've already written the first drafts of the other two).  
SUMMARY: Vastra and Jenny meet and solve their first crime.  
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, please don't sue me.  
CREDITS: This story is based on Anna Katherine Green's Violet Strange short story, _The Problem Of The Second Bullet_.  
NOTE: I started writing this story before the Series 7b finale so now I'm willfully ignoring the implication that the Doctor was present when Vastra and Jenny first met. (I choose to think that the Doctor saved Jenny's life when he first met them.)

* * *

While readers of The Strand enjoyed the adventures of one Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion and chronicler, Dr Watson, London fell under the protection of the true Great Detective, Madame Vastra, the fabled Lizard Woman of Paternoster Row, and her beloved companion and wife, Jenny Flint.

The tales I hereby dictate to my own beloved companion may seem as strange as any that Sir Arthur penned before me but, as his famous creation would have it, what is improbable remains once that which is impossible is eliminated. I begin, then, at the beginning, with the tale - oft recounted by my adored parents - of how these two remarkable women came to meet.

Jennifer Strax Vastra-Flint.  
London, 1948.

* * *

Jenny Flint peered through the flickering candlelight into the cracked piece of glass that served as a mirror in her room. She tried to ignore the endless cries of a child nearby and the unusually stifling heat of the summer's night. Instead, she studied her face intently. The bruise remained livid, taunting her as it blazed on the left side of her face. Her finger gently circled her eye and down her cheek, tracing the path of the damage along the bone.

How she'd ever managed to stay upright she'd never know. Her father had certainly been shocked when she stood her ground. Jenny doubted if he'd ever understand that his violence only bolstered her resolve. Her pride - a fault in her father's eyes - would never allow her to show weakness again in the face of his bullying. But then, she would never have to.

She prodded carefully at the tender skin and hissed in a breath at the pain that flared across her face. Damn that man, damn him to hell and back. How could a man who had always claimed to love his child do such a thing? And for nothing but love. Well, Jenny smiled to herself, maybe not love exactly. She grinned at her reflection as a flicker of lust chased away the pain from her eyes.

It was done now, she told herself firmly. And the bruise would be gone soon enough. The only thing she regretted was buying that meat. Everyone said that raw meat would bring the bruising down. Her own brother - the thought of him made her wince again - had sworn by it in his prizefighting days. It hadn't helped though; a sticky face and bloodied hair was the only outcome. And she'd spent money that she couldn't afford to waste.

Though she'd eaten well, Jenny reminded herself. The meal had seen her through the past day and a half. Her stomach rumbled on cue and she glared down at her belly. She needed to find work. Needed somewhere to stay. Needed a new life, safe from the ignorance and hatred that even her own kin embodied.

First thing tomorrow that was exactly what she was going to do, Jenny told her reflection with a firm nod. The eyes in the mirror widened at the strange noise that punctured the London night air. The candlelight flickered as she turned to look out of the opened window.

It had been a gunshot, Jenny realised. But a strange one. An odd popping sound, almost an echo of itself. She'd never heard anything like it but she didn't know much about guns. She'd always thought blades were far more civilised weapons.

Jenny waited. It was then that she realised what was missing. The crying. The child had stopped crying. That bloomin' baby from two doors down who cried all night, every night was finally silent. Jenny had begged and pleaded with that child to shut up but now, the night feeling unnaturally still, she felt her panic rising. Dear God, could someone have shot the poor child?

* * *

The lone Silurian slid around the back alleys of London, pausing occassionally to taste the air. It stank of apes, of their waste and their wants. How could these creatures call themselves civilised?

And that incessant noise, that mewling infant's endless cries. Her sense of hearing might not be as acute as some on this planet but it was at least as good as a human's senses. Surely they could hear it too?

Vastra paused in the shadow of a doorway, waiting while a couple of the stinking creatures wobbled by. They reeked of alcohol, tobacco and a desperation that left a trail behind them. Though even they seemed to be affected by the endless noise, one of them glancing vaguely in that direction and slurring, "Poor lil blighter."

Vastra was ready to say much more than that. She had been forced to remind herself more than once this night that she did not kill infants. It was barbaric and would make her no better than the putrid creatures who filled the surface as if they owned the place.

Endless noise below, with their infernal contraptions boring through the earth and waking innocent Silurians from their slumber. Endless noise above, with their drunken prattle and their crying offspring. A plague on them all!

Vastra edged closer to the source of the noise. She didn't know why, simply slipped through the night in search of nothing but an answer. She barely knew to what question. She was close now. A densely packed, poorly kempt little cluster of homes. Not the hovels that so many of these creatures lived in but a little larger and a little better maintained. A very little.

She looked up, hoping to identify the source of the child's cries. Not this one, she realised. She clung to the shadows of the twisting alley, aware that she was deep in the heart of the apes' domain. Her skin began to itch, her tongue going numb from the constant assault of their stench.

Somewhere near. She stopped, head tilted as she considered. And snapping around as she heard it. A gunshot, the crack of one of those ridiculous little toys that the apes called weapons. Or was it? Something wasn't right about the sound, something off about its retort.

And silence. Blessed silence. Deep, unnatural silence, Vastra thought an instant before she realised that the infant was silent too. Had the shot startled it as much as it had Vastra herself? No, she shook the thought away, the child should be screaming even louder by now.

"Barbarians," Vastra hissed.

Animals! To murder your own offspring. The disgust welled up in her but her curiosity was peaked again by a movement nearby. A hurried, stumbling shuffle moving away from the source of the gunshot. There was a new taste in the air, the black powder that these creatures prized so much. And a rush of scents following it, triumph and fear, the sweat of a hasty retreat and more of that black powder.

Vastra's head snapped around as she caught the combination of scents on her tongue and hurried to follow.


	2. Chapter 2

See Part One for story details.

* * *

Jenny had hurried from her own lodging house and turned to the end house of the little row, the one that was slightly better kept and had clean windows. The bright moonlight lit her way.

Jenny strode up to the two men and a woman who stood nervously outside the dark blue door. She hesitated when she realised that one of them was a member of the local constabulary. Some things were too ingrained to loose over night. Still, the three people looked to her with curiosity as she approached but nothing more.

"Evenin'", Jenny nodded to them, "You hear that too then?"

Before the Constable could answer, there was a scream from the house. The four of them looked up at the door, too startled to speak for a moment, then the young policeman was hurrying up the few steps, closely followed by the other man. Jenny waited for the woman to move too but she was staring at the house with a terrified look on her face. Jenny shouldered her way around the woman and ran through the door that still rattled on its hinges from the Constable's assault.

It was even nicer on the inside than she had expected, well kempt and prettily decorated. There were some nice pieces of furniture in the hall and a few ornaments that might have been worth something. Everything was very old, though, a little too big for the house and a little shabby at the edges. A well-off family fallen on hard times, Jenny thought as she hurried along the hallway. The Constable had checked the downstairs rooms and was already heading upstairs but the other man was holding back.

"You should stay with the lady," Jenny told him, nodding back towards the door, "I'll go up with the Bobby."

The man nodded in relief and Jenny hurried up the stairs. She was halfway up when a desperate sobbing started from above. She hesitated a moment before forcing herself forward and mounted the stairs to see the Constable lingering in the doorway of one of the bedrooms. He glanced back towards her and she saw the horror in his eyes.

Stealing herself, Jenny joined him at the door and looked inside. A woman sat on the floor in the middle of the room, a bed off beyond her with a tiny crib pressed close to its foot, the window across the room was open. Between the woman and the bed lay a man's body, sprawled out with a growing red stain surrounding his torso. But Jenny barely glanced at the corpse. She stared at the woman who was holding something to her, clinging to the little bundle with all her might. The woman's sobs seemed to echo and build in the room. She rocked backwards and forwards, sobbing and cooing as if to calm the babe.

Jenny swallowed hard and took a deep breath. She dragged her eyes away from the woman and her dead child, taking in the rest of the room carefully. There was a pistol by the man's body, his fingertips just brushing the wooden grip. The bed was still made but the crib's little sheets were dishevelled. She looked back at the door and saw the mirror on the wall nearby. It was broken, the cracks spidering out from a central hole. Through the damaged glass she could see the fractured reflection of the open window. Turning back, she felt the faint breeze that ruffled the pretty little curtains that were loosely pulled back in matching sashes.

Jenny looked back to see that the Constable had knelt down beside the woman but she barely registered his presence, much less looked at him. He glanced up at Jenny nervously. Jenny gave a faint shrug and studied the woman again.

Suddenly, she said, "How many shots?" Jenny and the Constable both started. "The pistol," the woman said, manic now, "How many shots?"

The young man lifted the pistol carefully and examined it for a moment, "Just one," he said and laid the weapon down where he had found it.

The woman kept one arm tight around the child's body but stretched out a shaking hand and pointed to the window, "Someone was in the window," she said, her words growing louder and stronger, "Someone shot must have him from the window."

Jenny stared out of the window again. It was open just wide enough for someone to lean inside but... Her gaze followed the line of sight from the window, then back from where the pistol lay. Could it be? Without thinking, Jenny turned on her heels and ran out of the room and down the stairs, charging past the startled couple who still waited in the doorway and running down the road.

* * *

Vastra made her way carefully back to the source of the gunshot. The creature she had been following had shuffled his way deeper into the ape's den of tangled alleys and she had dared not follow. He had had a strange gait, one leg trailing slightly behind the other. Vastra thought that might be a way to identify him, though all the apes looked the same to her so she doubted it would help a great deal.

She found herself back close to where she had heard the sound. Still no sign of a crying child. No real bustle or interest at all. Were these creatures so unfeeling to their fellows that they would ignore not just the cries of their offspring but, perhaps, the murder of one? Vastra thought back to the little, heavily wrapped body that she had watched being dragged from the river only a few days before. Yes, indeed these creatures were such animals.

A sound came from the other side of the house, hurrying footsteps closer than Vastra expected. A human, fast approaching. Vastra realised that she was exposed, looking around wildly for a place to hide but left with little option than to press herself into the shelter of the wall behind her.

One of the apes ran into the alleyway and stopped. A little thing though not a child, Vastra decided as she considered it carefully, her tongue darting out between her lips to taste the new scent on the air. Fear, excitement, the sickly scent of raw meat. What a strange combination, Vastra thought just as the ape's eyes turned in her direction.

Jenny gave a startled gasp but forced herself to remain still. Her eyes cast around and she spotted a half rotten piece of wood left on the ground nearby. She reached for it suddenly, grabbing for what little protection it might offer her just as the... what exactly?... stepped out of the shadows. Jenny hefted the wood with all the bravado she could muster.

"You hold it right there, er... Mister?"

Vastra stopped, her head tilted, eyes darting between the makeshift weapon and the girl.

Jenny cleared her throat and added, "Easy now. You been up there, have ya?"

Vastra's neck twisted in a way that made Jenny's eyes widen but she couldn't help following the direction of this thing's gaze. It was looking up at the window that Jenny had been considering just a moment ago. Even from here, moonlight the only illumination, she could make out the lattice work that formed a ladder of sorts up to the window. It wouldn't be too difficult for someone to climb up. Especially not if you could do that with your neck, Jenny thought as she turned back to the still silent creature.

"Did you kill that man and the poor child? Eh?"

"The child is dead?"

Jenny held her ground as the creature... woman... stepped forward. The skin was thick, almost scaly. No, Jenny realised as the moonlight caught the face, it was scaly. And green. Blimey! And the voice. It was soft, sibilant. Like... Like a snake might talk or a lizard.

"Yeah," Jenny finally answered. "And the man. You kill them?"

"No?"

"Then what you doin' round here?"

Vastra considered the girl. She had seen her by now, must have taken in the skin and her strange attire, had certainly taken in the voice. Yet she was still standing there. Still waving that ineffectual piece of debris as if it could ward off all the evils of the world. Still staring at her, despite her obvious discomfort. And willing to accuse her of murder.

"I heard the infant's endless cries. Came to see why no-one calmed the child?" Vastra wondered why she was answering these pathetic accusations. But she was and she would continue, "I heard the gunshot and saw someone running away. I followed them."

"Oh aye. So where is this mystery person now then?"

The impudent creature! Vastra hissed, her tongue lashing out into the air between them. Jenny took a hasty step back, her eyes wide as she watched the tongue flicker out and chase back again. Vastra watched with satisfaction at the fear that flared though the girl but she also caught the odd hint of excitement that flashed into the eyes before fear replaced it once more.

"You have not commented on my appearance," Vastra said in a teasing tone.

Jenny swallowed hard, 'Don't like to talk about people's afflictions."

"Afflictions?" Vastra said indignantly, "Afflictions!"

"Yeah, well. You know, your skin problems and that. Can't you get a cream or a poultice for it?"

"Poultice?"

"For the," Jenny's free hand waved vaguely around her own face, "you know?"

"I'll have you know that I do not require treatment, thank you very much. This is my natural skin tone. Well," Vastra trailed off slightly, "perhaps a little paler than normal it's true but, still..."

She stopped suddenly, drawing herself up to her full height. What was she doing? Explaining herself to an ape of all things. This creature had accused her of murdering a man and child as well as insulting her Siluran genetics. And she was engaging it in conversation. Polite converstaion at that.

"Anyway," Jenny said after a long silence, "thing is, the man and the child is dead, er, Madame, and the woman up there reckoned that someone'd climbed up and shot through the window. You say you saw someone running away? From up there?"

Vastra considered the climb carefully. It wouldn't have been easy for the ape with the damaged leg but certainly not impossible. She looked back in the direction that she had followed earlier.

"Yes, I think so. Though I did not see... it... up there?"

"It? A man?"

"I do not know. I am not an expert on such things."

"Nah, me neither," Jenny grinned but it faded quickly, "Oh, you mean you ain't no expert on humans. Not just on men. What are you exactly?"

"You do not think me human, you do not know what I am at all. And yet you remain here, talking to me as you would anyone. Though I assume you generally do not hold pieces of rotting tree when you talk to your own kind?"

"You'd be surprised," Jenny said but she threw the piece of wood back to the ground, wiping her hands off as she added, "So what are you then? A snake?"

"I am not!"

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to be rude. It's just, well, the skin and all. Maybe a lizard? A giant, talking lizard," Jenny ground to a halt as the words tumbled from her mouth. What was she saying? And what the bleedin' hell was she saying it too? "Sorry," she shrugged, suddenly embarrassed, "bit personal all them questions, eh?"

"Extremely. What exactly are you? Ah, I understand that you are a human," Vastra couldn't help but hiss the word in a low, forbidding tone, "but you are a female, am I right? And not a very old one, I think. Perhaps a child yourself?"

"Eh, I'm a grown woman. More than old enough to look after myself and don't you forget it. Madame," Jenny added belatedly.

Vastra couldn't keep the smile from shaping her lips, "Noted. So," her tone grew serious again, "this creature who murdered the man and child, you wish to apprehend it?"

"Reckon someone should. If there was someone," Jenny said but the glare her words earned had her adding, "I mean, not that I doubt that you saw someone but I reckon the law might say that the man topped himself or that the wife bumped him off. Looked dodgy that. But, still," Jenny trailed off.

"Still" You have a theory, I think?"

"Oh no, not a theory. Not really the one for theories me, Madame. It's just a feeling. Like something's out of place. A mystery, like, and I'd be pleased to know how it all fits together. The window and the mirror and the gun. And that poor dead baby."

Vastra made to speak but she was interrupted by a noise close by. More humans were lumbering towards the alley and she shrank back from the moonlight. She studied the girl who claimed not to be a girl. Vastra believed her. She wanted to know more. Not just about this mystery but about the girl herself.

"I cannot be seen," Vastra said, "but I too would like to know more about this mystery of yours. Will you trust me?"

Trust her? Jenny studied this woman... lizard... woman carefully. Trust a green-skinned creature with the sharp temper and sharp tongue - literally. Yes, she realised with a shock, she would trust her.

Trust me? Vastra was shocked that the words entered her head, much less passed her lips. She should be killing this ape and moving on. Back to hide in the shadows and nurse her anger and hatred. But she wanted this ape... this girl... to trust her, Vastra realised.

"Yeah, I will. Here, you don't eat humans, do you Madame?" Jenny asked before she could stop herself.

Vastra had begun to turn away, sensing the impending arrival of the others and wishing to be far away from this stinking place. She turned back with a glare but it softened as she shook her head and said, "No, my dear. Certainly not all in one sitting."


	3. Chapter 3

See Part One for story details.

* * *

"Hold on," Jenny said as they hurried away from the houses. She thought they were going towards the river but she didn't know the area well and didn't want to lose her bearings, "Let's not go too far, eh? I'm lodging just up there," she hitched a thumb back in the direction of the houses, "why don't you come up."

"Into," Vastra face filled with horror, "there?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, Mrs Jenkins' a bit of an old dragon but I can get you in. Used to sneaking strange... women into my room, I am."

"Indeed," Vastra said.

She knew she should refuse, should take the girl and head back to the little hole in the ground that she was calling home. Actually, she was calling it many other things besides, none of them flattering, but that wasn't the point. She should leave this little creature and go far from here. Perhaps try to rejoin her people below ground, perhaps move away from this stinking city and find a quiet, calm place that she could call home.

Neither option filled her with anything but self-pity and a gnawing loneliness that even Vastra had to admit was slowly killing her. So stay with the little one or run away again?

"Very well," Vastra said slowly, "but I am not entirely comfortable in," again the change of tone, "human surroundings."

"No, I guessed that, Madame. Bit of a funny place to be living then, in London I mean, if you're not so keen on humans and all."

"Those infernal machines of yours woke me."

Jenny turned and stared at her, "You mean the carriages?"

"Good Goddess, no, I mean those contraptions that move under the ground. Is it not bad enough that you took the surface from us? Must you take the earth from above our heads too?"

"Er, yes. I mean, no, Madame. I think. Why don't we just get inside, eh?"

Jenny lead the way up to the back door of the little lodging house. She eased it open and peeked inside. Beckoning Vastra on, she indicated the rickety stairs and urged her ahead. The sound of movement from above had them both frozen on the steps but the noises subsided and Jenny pushed Vastra on, pointing out her door and encouraging them inside.

Vastra blanched visibly as she entered the room. It wreaked of human sweat and desperation, not all of it the girl's. It was tiny and dark, even to her Silurian eyes, and filthy beyond description. Worse still when the little one lit two candles and cast their dim illumination on the room.

"I know it's not much, Madame," Jenny said, "but I'll not be here long. Bit of a rough time lately."

Vastra studied her. Even the weak light was enough to highlight the discolouration in the girl's face.

"You are hurt?"

The look of confusion on Jenny's face was quickly replaced by embarrassment. She raised a hand to her cheek and shrugged, "Ain't much really. It'll heal."

"Someone hurt you," Vastra repeated, incensed by the very idea, "Tell me who and I will deal with them."

"Oh no you won't, thank you very much. I'll fight my own battles. Anyway, looks like you need a helping hand as much as I do."

Vastra rose up to her full height, her pride tweaked by the very thought. And deflated just as quickly; the very thought was entirely accurate. This little ape appeared to have quite a grasp of her current situation. Perhaps because she was in much the same predicament herself.

"I am Vastra," she gave a faint bow, "Though, I admit, I do like what you've been calling me."

"Madame? Oh," Jenny blushed, "seemed best to be polite."

"Would that your fellow apes," Vastra coughed, "That is, would that your fellow man had the same level of good manners."

"Thanks. Pleased to meet you Madame Vastra. And I'm Jenny. Jenny Flint."

"Quite despite my own natural, Jenny Flint, I am pleased to meet you also. Now," Vastra looked around in distress but forced herself to sit on the edge of the little whicker chair that filled a quarter of the room, "this murder. Or at least, this crime of some sort. Tell me what you know of it."

Jenny sat on the bed, leaving only a small gap between them. She could make out the features of Vastra's face more clearly now but she forced herself not to stare and gathered her thoughts instead. She laid out the events of the evening as clearly as she could, answering the few interruptions with clarifications or explanations as required. Vastra listened intently, head slightly tilted, eyes always on Jenny's face.

"So I ran out of the room. That Bobby weren't going to do nothing about it, reckon he just thought the woman was mad with grief."

"But you did not? You believed her."

Jenny shrugged, "It was such a funny thing to ask, see. Such a strange thing to be thinking about at just that moment. I reckoned," she shrugged again, "well, I reckoned there must be something in it."

"Yes, yes, quite." Vastra stared at the shard of glass that passed for a mirror in Jenny's vile little room, "And you say that the mirror had suffered a strike from a bullet?"

"Looked that way to me. Ain't no expert on bullets and the like but I'd say so."

"I am sure you are correct, my dear."

"You know who dunnit?"

Vastra smiled at Jenny's excited tone. "In truth, no." And smiled again at the disappointment that washed across her features, "But I believe I know how it was done. And how that poor child died."

"You were bothered about that baby," it wasn't a question.

Vastra bristled, "I was merely concerned by the noise. That endless mewling!"

"Yeah right, Madame. How was it done then?"

Vastra stood suddenly, Jenny's head snapping up to follow the movement. Vastra offered her a hand and, with only a moment's hesitation, she took it. It was cold but surprisingly smooth and not at all unpleasant. She held on as Vastra helped her to her feet.

"Let us pay a visit to the scene."

"Ah," Jenny looked Vastra up and down. "We might need to get you some clothes."

"I am fully attired, my dear," Vastra said indignantly, "In the garb of a Silurian warrior no less. A proud Silurian warrior, I might add."

"Silurian? That's your... people? Well, Madame. There aren't so many warriors around here, though there are a few old soldiers I suppose. Not many of them dressed like that, though. You stay here, I'll be back in a jiffy."

Vastra watched Jenny leave the room. Did nothing faze this girl? She'd barely blinked at Vastra's speech, had remained calm in the face of all of the remarkable things she had seen and heard that night. Was there perhaps a little Silurian blood in the creature? No, a ridiculous thought, Vastra told herself, but still there was something remarkable about the girl. And something that was drawing Vastra to her. She found herself hoping that the girl felt the same.

"Here you are Madame," Jenny returned to the room, her arms filled with dark cloth, "Not as fine as a warrior's uniform, I'm sure, but it'll do as a disguise."

"A disguise?" Vastra studied the garments with obvious distaste. "Human clothing, human stench," she couldn't stop herself from saying.

"Yeah, well, Mrs Jenkins might not be the cleanest woman in London but she's the only woman in the house who's near your height. And this should do for a veil."

Vastra took the square of black lace that Jenny offered to her. She held it at arms length, a look of horror in her eyes that made Jenny laugh out loud. Vastra glared at her but Jenny's merriment remained.

"Just put it on, eh? It'll be getting light soon and I don't expect you want to be caught out there by all them humans."

* * *

Vastra squirmed in the rough cloth, her whole body itching. She glanced at Jenny's back, the girl having demurely turned to "give her some privacy". Such a strange human concept. Particularly when the little mirror afforded the girl a view of the entire room from where she stood. Vastra looked up and caught Jenny's stare. Jenny blushed so deeply Vastra could see the change of colour even in the dim light and through the filthy mirror.

"You ready then?" Jenny said.

"Indeed, my dear. Now can we get on with this?"

"Yeah, it's almost light outside look. You all right to go out in the daylight?"

"I am a Silurian, Jenny Flint, not a vampire!"

"Good to know, Madame. Come on then."

Jenny lead the way out, checking that their path was clear as she hurried them down the stairs and out of the back door again. They walked around the house and down the road. The same policeman was stationed outside the house, the young Constable appearing decidedly bored. He looked up to see the two women approaching and smiled as he recognised the young woman who had run from the room earlier. He had thought her afraid but seeing her trot along beside the imposing figure, he reconsidered.

He stopped them at the door and Jenny said, "I was here earlier, Constable, you remember? We thought we'd come to help out and that."

He hesitated, looking from one woman to the other. He wasn't supposed to let anyone in. He'd been worrying about that poor woman, though; left all alone in the house where her husband and child had just died. Seemed awful cruel, even if the woman had no-one to go to. At least these two could calm her down, she'd been sobbing all night and it was driving him to distraction.

"All right then, go through. Mrs Henry is in the parlor."

"She remained here?" the taller one said.

He nodded, "Nowhere else to go."

"Good Goddess. Come, let us speak with the... poor woman."

Jenny bobbed a curtesy to the young man and he flushed as they walked up to the door. Vastra strode up the steps and pushed the door open. She hesitated at the entrance, the wreak of human tempered by the smell of flowers. Which was quickly replaced by the stench of blood and gun powder.

They followed the sounds of grief until they came to a pretty little parlor at the back of the house. The woman was curled into one of the small chairs set by the empty fireplace. She didn't seem to notice them but eventually said, "You were here earlier," without looking up.

"Yes, Ma'am, my name's Jenny Flint and this is, er, Madame Vastra. We've come to help."

"Help! What good can be done? My husband and child murdered and those awful policemen determined to call it suicide. What can be done?" she trailed off into more sobbing.

"I wish to see the room Mrs Henry," Vastra said.

"If you must, everyone else has been up there tonight. The girl knows where it is."

Jenny shrugged at Vastra's questioning gaze and indicated the hallway with a tilt of her head.

They were just outside the room when the woman said, "He was a coward, Ladies, an utter and complete coward. That is how I know he did not kill himself; he was too terrified of death to even contemplate it. I married a fool and a coward and now I shall pay for my mistakes," and then her sobbing resumed.

Jenny made to reply but Vastra touched her arm, staying her words. She encouraged Jenny into the hallway and they made their way up the stairs where Jenny showed Vastra to the bedroom. The bodies were gone now, only the dark red stain indicating where the man had fallen. Jenny walked over to the now-closed window and peered outside. She opened it and stuck her head out, looking down at the short climb to the little yard.

"Reckon you could get up and down there, it ain't that far."

"Even for a man with a limp?"

"Limp, Madame?"

Vastra nodded but said no more. She looked around the room, tracing a path from the crib to the bed and on to the mirror. She stared into it for a while, watching Jenny watch her. Then she turned on her heels and paced to Jenny's side.

"Tell me exactly where the man lay, my dear."

Jenny moved to the side of the bed and crouched down, pointing slightly to the side of the blood stain. She explained where the man had fallen, where the woman had been and how she appeared to have picked the child up from beside him.

"And we can presume that this coward and fool kept a firearm under his pillow? Is that not what you humans do?"

"Not personally, Madame," Jenny said, "but, yeah, I suppose so. Though who'd walk around with a baby in one hand and a gun in the other, eh?"

"Who indeed, my dear, who indeed. But no matter, I believe I understand the situation."

Vastra said nothing more, her eyes following imagined lines that ran across the room from window and crib, bed and mirror. Jenny waited with what patience she could muster. It didn't last long.

"And? Madame?"

"And now we must go to wherever they have taken the child's body."

"The mortuary? Well, Madame, you do take a girl to all the best places."


	4. Chapter 4

See Part One for story details.

* * *

There were some parts of London that even Jenny Flint would prefer to avoid. Parts even worse than the area where she had grown up and, indeed, where she was currently residing. Unfortunately, that was exactly where the nearest mortuary was. They'd told the Constable that they needed to go and tend to the child's body and he'd pointed them in the right direction. So here they were and Vastra looked almost comfortable in this obviously hostile environment. Jenny stayed close, trying not to consider that this strange Silurian person was so much more comforting to her than all of the humans that scurried around them.

"You are uncomfortable, my dear," it wasn't a question, "Let us go inside immediately."

Jenny followed Vastra through the large, dark doorway and into the mortuary. There was no-one in the entrance and they continued on towards the inner door marked "Private".

"So how exactly are we going to get in there and to the bodies? They won't just let us walk in and have a look around, surely?"

Vastra grinned at her. It was the most disconcertingly foreign expression Jenny had seen on the woman's face. It made her shiver. Then they were pushing through the Private door and into the cold, tiled room beyond. Jenny shivered again.

The white tiles had long since ceased to be white, the floor was best ignored and the thin, high tables that stood two abreast in the middle of the room were covered in filthy sheets. Both had occupants. One the size of a grown man, the other a tiny bundle beneath a soiled rag. Jenny's heart broke.

"Who the bleedin' 'ell are you two, then? Ain't no place for ladies in 'ere!"

Jenny blinked as the man fell to the ground, a startled look on his face that she was sure matched the expression on her own. She turned to Vastra, her eyes wide. The tip of Vastra's tongue returned to her open mouth, her jaws snapped shut with a click and she dropped the veil back over her face.

"He's merely incapacitated, I assure you my dear. Now, let us prove a theory, shall we?"

Jenny watched as Vastra carefully lifted the sheet from the larger form, discretely keeping the cloth between Jenny and the body. Jenny grunted her dissatisfaction and joined Vastra to look down on the pale, stiff cadaver. The wound in his chest was exposed, dark red stains on the clothing around it. Apparently, the pathologist didn't start work this early in the morning.

Vastra lowered the sheet and they moved to the smaller body. Jenny took a deep breath but reached out to lift this sheet herself. She stared down at the tiny, white creature that lay beneath.

"I'll need to examine the body. Why don't you go over there?" Vastra said in a kindly tone.

"No, thank you Madame, reckon I'll stay here and help out. Besides," Jenny cast her a stern look, "I don't know what this theory we're here to prove actually is yet, do I?"

Vastra smiled beneath the veil and eased the sheet from Jenny's hands. She lay it at the end of the table and reached out to the infant's body. She hesitated, said a few words that Jenny didn't need to understand and reached for the child's mouth. One gloved hand took a firm hold of the little jaws, forcing the bones apart and the mouth open. Two fingers from the other hand carefully reached inside. Jenny blanched but refused to look away.

"Forgive me, Jenny," Vastra said as she extracted her fingers, "but I needed to find this."

And she held up a bullet.

Jenny blinked at it, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she managed to say, "Blimey!"

"Quite."

Vastra lifted the sheet again and draped it over the child, patting it down with a surprising gentleness.

Jenny waited for a moment more before saying, "Don't make me wait too much longer, Madame. You wouldn't like me when I get impatient."

"Of that I have no doubt. Come, my dear, we must leave before our friend here awakes," she indicated the fallen attendant with a casual flick of her hand, "Let us return to the scene of the crime and tell that young man of our findings."

* * *

Vastra had refused to tell Jenny anything more until they were back at the house and the young woman was growing more and more impatient. Vastra watched the small foot tapping on the floor as they waited for the woman of the house to join them and the Constable in the bedroom.

Vastra had persuaded the young man that he should listen to them with a promise that the information they had to impart could improve his career prospects significantly. Jenny wasn't sure about that, in fact she was fairly certain that they would be arrested as soon as they admitted what they'd done. And how was Vastra going to explain the bullet and how they found it?

"Now then," Vastra began when Mrs Henry was standing in the doorway to the room. Her veil remained in place but her voice carried clearly as she said, "I'm afraid, Constable, we have not been entirely honest with you." He made to speak but Vastra raised a hand to stop him, "Now, please, allow me to explain everything before you offer your own thoughts. My companion and I are investigators."

Jenny looked at her in surprise but schooled her features and said nothing. She couldn't keep a tiny smile from shaping her lips or a thrill from chasing through her. She nodded sagely as both the Constable and Mrs Henry studied her closely.

Vastra continued, "As it happened, we were both nearby last evening and heard something of what occurred. Indeed, I myself followed a hu-" Jenny winced as Vastra stumbled over the word, "a man through the alleys behind this house until, alas, I lost him in the busier areas of this borough."

"You followed someone?" the Constable blurted out.

"Indeed," Vastra cast him a glare that seemed to burn through the thick lace of the veil, "a man with a limp -"

"A clubfoot?" now Mrs Henry interrupted her.

"Clubfoot?" Vastra looked to Jenny for clarification and recieved a faint nod in reply, "Yes, quite possibly a clubfoot. Is this significant?"

"I had a suitor, before I married Mr Henry, a William Smythe," she hesitated, "he was not happy that I chose as I did. He made some threats, though I did not take them seriously. I had thought my husband's debts would be the reason but," she trailed off, tears filling her eyes once more.

"A motive then, Constable. To continue, the issue at hand is the simple question of how many bullets were fired. All else hinges on establishing this fact. One bullet and it was suicide and a terrible accident in quick succession. Two bullets and it was murder followed by the same. Are we agreed, Constable?" Vastra didn't wait for the young man to answer, "The child of Mr and Mrs Henry was known to be a troublesome sleeper. I believe there may have been a spousal disagreement related to that fact. Mrs Henry?"

She nodded, "He said I was a bad mother. A bad mother of all things! So I told him that perhaps he might try to be a better father. He took poor, little Jonathon and closed the door in my face claiming that of course he could do better."

"So he shuts the two of them in the room and finds out that it ain't so easy after all," Jenny said.

"Indeed, my dear."

"And he's walking the little'n around the room to try and calm him down."

"Quite. He kept his gun under the pillow, Mrs Henry?"

"He did. He was a coward, as I told you, endlessly afraid that one of his debtors would come looking for him in the night."

Jenny picked up the thread, "So he's walking little Jonathon around the room. Somewhere close to the bed and he looks up into the mirror."

"And sees an intruder in the window," Vastra continued, all hope of having the floor to herself cast aside.

"He reaches for his gun but he fires at the mirror, not at the window."

"Yes, my dear, but you've missed a step."

Jenny considered for a moment, Mrs Henry and the Constable watching the two women intently. "Oh, I see," Jenny said, "Mr Henry put the little nipper down first. But not in the crib or on the bed, he put him on the floor."

"Yes, exactly," Vastra beamed behind the veil, "Mr Henry puts the child on the floor as he reaches for the gun. He fires instinctively and in quite the wrong direction. The mirror shatters, hence the odd sound of the bullet, which is only complicated further by the fact that the intruder - this William Smythe, no doubt - fired at precisely the same moment."

"That funny echoing sound it had?" Jenny said.

"Exactly, my dear Now. William Smythe, it appears, is a sufficiently proficient shot to find his target and Mr Henry falls to the floor."

"Landing on the child and suffocating the poor lad?" the Constable said.

"No. That is not how the child died. You are forgetting, Constable, the missing bullet."

With this Vastra held out her gloved hand, the spent bullet resting in its palm. The Constable edged forward to examine it and, at Vastra's urging, took the bullet himself.

"I believe you will find that it matches the type of firearm that Mr Henry owned," Vastra said.

"But where did you find it, Madame Vastra?" Mrs Henry asked.

"I am distressed to report, Mrs Henry, that I found it in the throat of your dead child."

Jenny winced, wishing she had spoken up before Vastra could lay out the facts so starkly. She added quickly, "We was respectful, Mrs Henry."

"Yes, yes, I am sure," she said, though her voice was barely above a whisper.

"So the bullet hits the mirror and falls to the floor," the Constable pieced it all together, "where Mr Henry had put the boy."

"And the boy does what young offspring are apt to do in these cases."

"Puts the bullet in his mouth," Jenny finished for her.

"And chokes," Mrs Henry managed to say before her own voice was choked with sobs.

They remained silent for a moment before Vastra concluded, "Hence, Constable, one murder and one terrible accident resulting from it. I believe your superiors will be quite pleased should you present them with the facts."

"Yes," he said, his voice lifting in excitement, "but, Madame Vastra, how did you come to discover the bullet?"

"Really, Constable," Vastra waved a hand dismissively, "such details are best put behind us. Now, my dear," and Vastra strode for the door, her arm outstretched to urge Jenny with her, "we really must be going. Our deepest condolences, Mrs Henry. And I trust you will deal with this matter from here on?" she added to the young man who was still staring at the bullet in wonder.

And with that they were out of the bedroom door and heading for the stairs. Jenny followed Vastra, determinedly not looking behind her. They made it to the door and into the street before Jenny's bubbling laughter burst out.

"Well, that was quite a show you just put on, Madame."

Vastra straightened to her full height but Jenny could sense her smile through the veil.

"I believe it went rather well, wouldn't you say? Perhaps we have found our calling," there was a hesitation before Vastra continued in a less certain tone, "That is, my dear, if you would consider spending a little more time with me?"

Jenny smiled up at her, the green, scaly face just visible through the thick lace. A giant, talking lizard thingy had just asked her to... well, to something. It would be madness to say yes. But, then, her family already believed her to be utterly mad, a deviant and a sinner. This would go some way to confirming that belief.

"Well, Madame Vastra, I think I might."


End file.
